When cooking meat, particularly beef, you can eliminate the need for cooking oil completely.

Heat the pan. Sprinkle salt evenly through the pan. Add meat to the pan, and you will hear it sizzle and crackle. The salt draws moisture from the meat, and enough fats to take the place of the cooking oil you might have used.

I've been told this does not change the flavor of the meat, although common sense dictates that it must. I must say, I have used this method for many years and never experienced overly salty meat using this method.

Monday, May 14, 2012

I was kindly invited to spend Christmas Day with friends up in Ft. Collins, Colo., last December, and I offered to bring a Cheesecake made with the world's bar-none best New York-style Cheesecake recipe. The day prior, I set aside for baking. This was one of my first attempts at baking since moving to Colorado, and while I'm keen on improvising in cooking, I'm less likely to stray from a baking recipe. I completely forgot that adjustments needed to be made to my favorite recipe for the change in altitude.

What do you suppose my first clue might be?

The mellow filling in the spring-form pan rose much more than usual. I thought nothing of it, because everybody likes a mile-high slice of Cheesecake, right? Well, clue number two was the baking time. The cheesecake requires a very high temperature of 500 degrees for (I believe) 90 minutes. At 30 minutes, the top crust was already golden brown. At 45 minutes, it was black and charred. I removed the cheesecake at this point, primarily because I had trouble seeing it through the smoke in the oven. After cooling the molten monstrosity, inspection showed that the graham cracker crust was slightly overdone, but nowhere near as overcooked as the black helmet my cheesecake was wearing. As the cake continued to cool, the black shell split and cracked and peeled, like paint off an old, weathered house. Using a spatula, I removed the “helmet,” and beneath – The charred cheesecake was beautifully golden brown.

I was able to rescue the charred cheesecake, and my host and other guests exhibited amazing patience and understanding, as fellow transplants to the mountains from Upstate New York. It was delicious.

The question is, what factors change at high altitude? Answer: All of them. Okay, I exaggerate. The big ones are atmospheric pressure, humidity and food chemistry. The result will be highly visible: Blackened cheesecake tops, cakes that sink in the middle, flat cookies, batters and fillings that overflow the griddle or pie pans. Atmospheric pressure: The Colorado State University Cooperative Extension reports that the pressure per square inch at sea level is 14.7, while at 5,000 feet, it is just 12.3 ppi. At 10,000 feet, it is just 10.2 ppi. For every 500 feet or so, water boils at one degree less than the sea-level standard of 212 degrees Farenheit. The change in pressure causes the following:

faster action by leavening agents

faster evaporation of moisture

faster boiling points for liquids

Humidity: Here in the Rockies of Colorado and points south, we enjoy lots of sunshine and an arid/semi-arid desert climate. Humidity is low. The dryness alters the chemical properties of some ingredients, which may affect your recipes. Flour may be drier, requiring more liquid to achieve sea-level/normal humidity results. I've noticed that pasta is drier and more liquid is necessary for baked pasta dishes. On a positive note, bread mold is slower to develop, although bread must be wrapped to avoid drying out.Food chemistry: Under the confines of lower pressure and faster evacuation of gases, cellular structure is compromised for many items, especially those containing sugars and fats. Adding an extra egg to baked goods and pastry recipes can help offset the weakened cell walls. Decreasing the amount of flour or leavening while increasing the baking temperature may yield better results. Decreasing cooking and baking times may also help.

It would be helpful if some smart people came up with a formula for all this. They have.

While increasing the temperature, decrease the baking time by 20 percent.

For muffins and cakes, fill pans only 1/3 or 1/2

Most experts will agree that a degree of trial and error is necessary.

So what actually happened with my cheesecake? As the liquids evaporated so quickly, it altered the concentrations of sugars and fats. I should have increased the liquids by at least 10%, reduced the sugar by 25 percent and decreased the baking time to about 60 to 70 minutes. I'll report back on the next attempt.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite tweeps, Rise Keller, a.k.a. @VanillaGrrl and her presentation on the subject.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Your body is like a barber-shop quartet. When you are feeling at your peak, everything works in harmony with everything else. Sounds great, looks great, feels great. Diet plays a major part in the orchestration of those harmonies, and when you hear those sour notes prick your ears with more frequency, you may want to check to see if you have a pH-armony problem. I apologize up front: This is a rather complex issue and I am giving it a basic blog overview. For more details, consult a registered dietician (RD) or a doctor.

For most non-space alien people, the body operates with an average blood pH of 7.35-7.45, which is slightly “alkaline.” In this range, the body maintains stores of minerals, nutrients and raw materials to maintain its peak performance. To keep the body in this range, an alkaline diet is helpful.

In today's world, however, many of us thrive on or fall prey to pre-packaged foods, meats, white bread, sugared drinks, alcohol, chips and candy. All of those are acidic, and it's like replacing members of your barber-shop quartet with all baritones. Your body won't be able to hit the high notes. As a result, it pulls from the stores of calcium, potassium and sodium, sending the body's pH spiraling toward Acidopolis – Sin City.

This is a condition known as acidosis. I call it the slug-ification of America. To avoid acidosis, increase your intake of the items listed at the end of this article, because acidosis can be checked with proper diet. But when left to run rampant for long periods of time, it may cause these conditions:

Note that a food's acid or alkaline forming tendency in the body has nothing to do with the actual pH of the food itself. Although it might seem that citrus fruits would have an acidifying
effect on the body, the citric acid they contain actually has an
alkalizing effect in the system. For example, lemons are very acidic, however the end products they produce after digestion and assimilation are very alkaline so, lemons are alkaline forming in the body. Likewise, meat will test alkaline before digestion, but it leaves very acidic residue in the body so, like nearly all animal products, meat is very acid forming.

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About The Author

Kerry Gleason is a mad scientist-turned-food-writer who never quite learned the message, "Don't play with your food." Now, he's encouraging you to do the same. The Atomic Kitchen tries to explain the science behind cooking in poetic terms.
"Cooking is poetry," he says, "with food instead of words. There is structure and rules, which can be stretched and broken. With The Atomic Kitchen, I'm exploring some of those rules to help readers become more creative cooks."
Even before writing the press releases that made Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" campaign a worldwide phenomenon, he had won marginal prizes for recipe submissions and food articles. Since, he has worked with more than 100 restaurant owners, chefs and caterers to market their businesses. From 2003-2007, he originated and ran the Tuesday Night Supper Club, allowing participants to sample the finest cuisine in Rochester and Buffalo, N.Y. He's a past member of the National Association of Science Writers.